The Music Of The Night
by Story-Lover-1989
Summary: It has been 3 years since the dreadful Opera Populaire fire and the opera house has been bordered up. What will happen when a young girl descends upon The Phantom's solitude? Will she be what he needs or will her presences push him deeper into the darkness of his mind? Romance and adventure are on the cards as is a refurbishment.


**Decided to stick with the original plot I had thought of with the Opera house still being in ruins after the fire since I had a better idea on how to work this plot and give the poor Phantom another rivalry for his loves attention. I also picked Belle because I'm not good with picking names out and I love Beauty and the Beast and I knew it was set in Paris thus Belle (: **

3 years to the day since that dreadful fire in the Opera Populaire that took the life of so many people who weren't quick enough to escape the blaze. Belle hadn't lost a loved one to the blaze but a friend of hers had and Belle had been there for every agonising minute of it yet, she herself had no idea how to feel. It wasn't her mother who never made it out of the Opera house.

Every day Belle walked past the Opera house and looked at it burnt out windows and its boarded doors. No one ever went near it and certainly no one ever went in it. It was classed as dangerous and unstable and Belle had been brought up her whole life to except rules and what your elders said and not to question them. She was naïve yes, but she wasn't gullible. She nodded and agreed but she also thought and questioned what she had been told. She didn't believe every story and certainly not the stories she had heard about the night of the fire.

Belle had been home that night, with her Aunt who had decided she didn't feel like Opera that night so when they heard the terrible explosion, since they didn't live too far from the Opera house, Belle was forbidden to leave and her Aunt instead had gone. Bella was 20 so of course she nodded, and then followed after she was quite sure her Aunt had left the immediate vicinity. What she had saw her made her wish she had listen to her Aunt and remained at home, the scene outside the Opera house wasn't anything less than hectic.

There where women running around in their best evening gowns, now all blackened, asking for where their loved ones where, who had made it out the fire, and telling the policemen who was to blame for what had happened.

"**It was the Phantom. He released the Chandelier and escaped with poor girl."**

Belle didn't find out till the next day that the poor girl was Christine Daae, but Raoul and herself had bother escaped unharmed, but shaken by the ordeal they had gone through underneath the Opera house. Belle acted like she hadn't left the house, since she had returned home in time, but the faces of the crying women who couldn't find their significant other would live with her until the day she died.

So today when she passed the Opera Populaire she stopped in her tracks and just looked. Just looked that was all, the streets where rather busy so she didn't have long to look until someone passed her view and Belle turned and headed home.

That evening while she was eating her dinner, she couldn't stop her mind wandering back to the Opera house. Something about it drew her attention today and it felt like something was calling her there. Part of Belle wanted to see what had happened to the Opera house, so she decided when her parents went to bed she would go back. She had spent her whole life saying her pleases and thank you's and for the first time in her life Belle wanted to be on the outside looking in, she wanted to experience things away from the safety of her own home.

That night when she was sure her family was asleep in bed Belle pulled on the only outfit she had that wouldn't get ruined. It was an old dress her mother had bought her that she had forgotten she had so if Belle got it ruined her mother wouldn't ask her why she no longer wore it. Thankfully it still fit even if it was a bit tight and grabbing her black cloak she left her bedroom. She decided to leave vie the rear exit so if anyone was passing they wouldn't mention seeing a strange figure leaving their house to her parents tomorrow, opening the door Belle pulled the cloak's hood low over her face and left walking between the house and exiting onto her street a few doors down so as to not raise suspicion.

Once she arrived at the Opera house Belle decided to walk around the side since trying to find a way in at the entrance was going to be indeed too obvious. As she walked down Belle noticed a window on the side wasn't completely bordered up and if she was very careful she could probably squeeze through the gap and she did. Once she was inside she decided to walk the halls and what she saw amazed her.

She walked down the hall and when she emerged at the end of the hallway she knew the large door opposite her would lead her out the front of the Opera house, walking towards the large staircase in front of her should couldn't help but marvel at even though there had been a fire the marble statues where undamaged by the flames, but where covered in soot. Walking up the stairs she turned up the right staircase and exited into another corridor, walking down she saw another door ahead of her, pushing it open she gasped.

She didn't need anyone to tell her where she was, the huge stage directly ahead of her in front of all the seats told her exactly where she was as did the large broken chandelier in pieces along the first few rows of seats. Walking down the right isle Belle reached the stage and climbed up onto it. Looking ahead she realised exactly how many people would fit in this room. Looking at the chandelier she glanced up towards the ceiling and where it had fallen and her hood slipped back and her golden curls fell around her face. Wishing she had tied her hair back she looked at the boxes and thought how it was incredible she was here and no one else would be able to really witness all of this utterly alone. What she didn't know though was someone was watching her, from the shadows, of box 5, and she was far from alone.

**Also my other chapters won't be as long as this one. This is letting you get to know Belle and things that have happened in the last three years. I also won't be doing many chapters from the Phantom's POV. But he will have bits in other chapters that are all about his thoughts.**


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